Corona Virus Daily Information Update: 6 March 2020

HERE ARE TODAY'S links to what seem the most reliably informative (and therefore presumably useful) Internet reports on the rapidly spreading Coronavirus epidemic: 

From the Associated Press:

How to prepare your home and family, if new virus spreads
Useful advice and information.

US cruise ship in limbo as anti-virus controls spread
Global roundup included.

Pence walks fine line on coronavirus response
This after Washington State Governor Jay Inslee suggests the vice-president favor science over superstition and stop lying to the public.

From other sources:

Coronavirus Updates from The Washington Post
A U.S. roundup plus an informative dialogue with readers. 

Coronavirus Attacks Core of the Economy
As goes Germany, so goes the world.

Scientists fault gov’t and private industry response for U.S. coronavirus spread
A telling example of what the Mainstream Media Propaganda Machine dares not tell us. 

(As always, headlines are reproduced in their original up-style and down-style formats.)

*****

THIS IS LATE because of a non-medical household emergency that required my attention. (Yes, all is well.)  However -- again with this virus report I'm making the rules as I go -- I intend to take the weekends off.

Even without the demands of the report, this would have been an exceptionally busy week, as for me the first week of the month always is, because in addition to the obligatory grocery-shopping trips and bill-paying, it's also the week I fulfill my only other remaining journalistic obligation: the (award-winning) editing and production of the monthly newsletter that serves the Tacoma senior community in which I live. Hence first-of-the-month Fridays are little different from those TGIF (thank god it's Friday) occasions of my long ago newsroom years.

Beyond that, I believe I am surely old enough -- with my 80th birthday but 22 days distant -- to deserve all weekends off. 

Nevertheless if a major virus story breaks over the weekend -- especially one the MMPM is ignoring -- I'll send it along. And I'll resume these daily updates on Monday. In any case I'll be here in my apartment on what I suppose might be called voluntary isolation, as are all my neighbors, all of us with strict instructions to remain in our apartments unless it is absolutely necessary to go outside and to wash our hands thoroughly and often, particularly after handling anything from outside. These are most assuredly intelligent precautionary measures, as the virus is not here among us. Not yet.

Here's wishing all youse all a healthy weekend.

LB/7 March 2020 02:27 PST

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Revised Coronavirus Daily Information Update: 5 March 2020

HERE ARE TODAY'S links to what seem the most reliably informative (and therefore presumably useful) Internet reports on the rapidly spreading Coronavirus epidemic:  

From the Associated Press:

'This is not a drill': WHO urges the world to fight virus

Families slam nursing home residents' treatment

Dogs, cats can't pass on coronavirus, but can test positive

Pence pledges 'full support' to Washington state in coronavirus fight
Yeah, exactly as the DemoPublicans provided "full support" to the citizens of post-Katrina New Orleans.  

From other sources:

Coronavirus kills at more than 20 times the rate of seasonal flu
Scary but true.

WHO Expert Explains Why China's Cases Of COVID-19 Are Declining
How socialism saves lives.

A Coronavirus Guide for Older Adults (And Their Family)
Grimly truthful but helpful, with thanks to Tigerlille for the link.

(As always, headlines are reproduced in their original up-style and down-style formats.)

*****

NO I AM not ignoring the deadly implications of Sen. Sanders' stunning primary defeat in terms of the nation's long-term ability to cope with the coronavirus epidemic; I am merely waiting for some more widely-read journalist to (dare) approach the subject.

LB/5 March 2020 21:58.

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Corona Virus Daily Information Update: 4 March 2020

HERE ARE TODAY'S links to what seem the most reliably informative (and therefore presumably useful) Internet reports on the rapidly spreading Coronavirus epidemic: 

Feds investigate nursing home as U.S. death toll hits 11
AP reporting with its usual scoop-the-world excellence.

 

High cost of health care, lack of paid time off, leave US workers vulnerable to coronavirus outbreak

 Unsparingly truthful analysis, vital despite its ideological context.

In Italy and beyond, virus outbreak reshapes work and play 

Another AP report, its headline self-explanatory.

Virus death rate still uncertain as mild cases are missed 

And more: this AP report is a vital antidote to fear-mongering.  

Capitalism’s disastrous response to the coronavirus pandemic 

More unsparingly truthful and therefore vital analysis, this time on a global scale.

(As always, headlines are reproduced in their original up-style and down-style formats.)

*****

Why do I so often link to AP reports? Because as a near-lifelong professional journalist I know that while it is U.S.-based, it is also a non-profit news media co-op with an international organization that leaves it notably better able to escape the mandatory censorship and  disinformation that define the U.S. Mainstream Media Propaganda Machine (MMPM), which in the most bitter of truths is in fact the world's first privately owned, for-profit copy of Josef Goebbels' infamous Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. 

LB/4 March 2020 21:57 PDT

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Coronavirus Daily Information Update: 3 March 2020

HERE ARE TODAY'S links to what seem the most reliably informative (and therefore presumably useful) Internet reports on the rapidly spreading Coronavirus epidemic: 
 

Tensions rise as U.S. death toll from coronavirus reaches 9

Lack of preparedness puts US health care workers at greatest risk from coronavirus

A disconnect between Trump and health officials on virus

How the Senate Paved the Way for Coronavirus Profiteering, and How Congress Could Undo It

Governments skimp on funds to fight the coronavirus, open cash spigots for the banks

 

Asian stocks higher but Dow sinks 2.9% after rate cut fails to stem market's dread

Pence and Azar’s Coronavirus Media Tour Revealed That Their Main Concern Is Protecting Trump

This is a bit later than usual because I encountered a formatting problem -- obvious to anyone with a discerning eye -- that I gave up trying to solve after an effort of nearly two hours led to naught but failure. Hence the lack of descriptive commentary on the reports; hence too my apology.

LB/3 March 2020 22:15 PST

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Coronavirus Daily Information Update: 2 March 2020

HERE ARE TODAY'S links to what seem the most reliably informative (and therefore presumably useful) Internet reports on the rapidly spreading Coronavirus epidemic: 
  

China's crisis wanes as epidemic takes hold in US, elsewhere
International roundup by Associated Press.

Federal Way postal worker tests positive for coronavirus
Thanks to RD for sending me this story.

NOT REAL NEWS: An outbreak of virus-related misinformation
Associated Press at its international best. 

AP FACT CHECK: Trump's false assurances on coronavirus

 

How US Sanctions on Iran Helped Coronavirus Spread Undetected

Note another possible explanation for Iran's highest Coronavirus death rate is the nation may have many more cases than are officially diagnosed. 

China's Coronavirus Lockdown Sees Surge in Abandoned Pets
Thanks to Tigerlille for sending me this sad story.

*****

And then, thanks to my sister Elizabeth Bliss, we have something to help us smile:  Belgian Malinois And Tiny Owl Have The Most Unlikely Friendship, And Their Photos Are Adorable

(As always, headlines are reproduced in their original up-style and down-style formats.)

LB/2 March 2020 21:56 PDT

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Coronavirus Daily Information Update: 1 March 2020

BEGINNING TODAY, I'LL post links to what seem the most reliably informative (and therefore useful) Internet reports on the rapidly spreading Coronavirus.

For as long as I am able (or until the crisis ends), I'll upload these brief anthologies -- seldom (if ever) more than a half-dozen reports -- each day around 10  p.m. PST, with supplemental postings as required by breaking stories.

 

As I do in more routine times, I'll reduce the sometimes awkwardly long Dispatches URLs to TinyURLs. This is  both for readers' convenience and to reduce opportunities for ideologically hostile internet service-providers (ISPs) to block the material. (As always, headlines are reproduced in their original up-style and down-style formats.)

Authorities announce 2nd coronavirus death in US  

New virus: Nearly 89,000 infected, over 3,000 dead

How Does the Coronavirus Compare With the Flu?
Thanks to Deputy Director Laurie Jinkins of the Tacoma/Pierce County Health Department for Tweeting this useful report out from behind the NewYork Ttimes' paywall. (Ms. Jinkins, a Democrat, also represents Tacoma's 27th District in the legislature at Olympia, the Washington state capitol.)

The US Is Not Prepared For Coronavirus; We Need To Take Action
A detailed analysis of how bipartisan Neoliberal austerity has severely crippled our ability to deal with the crisis, plus useful hints for protecting our individual and community health and wellbeing.   

Preparing for Coronavirus to Strike the US Is Your Civic Duty
Informative reporting from Scientific American.

LB/1 March 2020 21:57 PDT

*****

(Also, for context, I have reproduced below my first two reports in this series. These were originally transmitted as personal emails to friends and colleagues.)

29 February 2020

Breaking: https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/61611-as-a-doctor-ive-watched-republicans-make-the-us-more-vulnerable-to-coronavirus-than-it-ever-should-have-been

Latest figures: death rate seems around three percent at present save in Iran, where it is hitting seven percent; coincidence? (I doubt it):  https://apnews.com/fd006734bacfb34a9dba966694359e5f

Best single source on the overall crisis: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/29/coro-f29.html

First death in US is 35 miles north of Tacoma, close to a senior assisted-living facility at which everyone has grave preconditions, is already infected and will therefore presumably be killed by the virus: https://apnews.com/f175d89567a26d59cab27725c9e8a0d7

Measures of gravity (I): already the worst financial crash since '29: https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/76381/5-trillion-wiped-out-from-world-stocks-amid-fastest-collapse-in.html

Measures of gravity (II): more financial analysis: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/29/econ-f29.html

Analytical note: thinking as the Army taught me to think at Fort Holabird (Jan-July 1960), there are only two possible explanations for the seemingly vector-less outbreaks -- i.e., those with no connection to known sources of infection: these are (1) -- unknown vectors (which further underscores our helplessness and therefore hopelessness in coping with the disease); and (2) -- aerial dispersion, which is the most effective form of CBR attack.  Given the givens, particularly the truly infinite Evil repeatedly evidenced by our Masters --  I am way more inclined toward the latter explanation than the former.

(As before, those of you who no longer want these gleanings please let me know and I will omit you accordingly.)

///loren

*****

28 February 2020
Most reliable and detailed reports I can find: 

(Note there is no longer any doubt our Overlords are severely downplaying the magnitude of the crisis.) 

https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/61585-a-corrupt-response-and-cover-up-trump-admin-appears-to-have-sparked-coronavirus-outbreak-in-us
(See my comment)

https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2020/02/28/very-important-that-you-read-this/

https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/nouriel-roubini-on-coronavirus-this-crisis-will-spill-over-and-result-in-a-disaster-a-e811cf3b-d495-4c52-bf79-d872c8f164ac?sara_ecid=nl_upd_1jtzCCtmxpVo9GAZr2b4X8GquyeAc9&nlid=bfjpqhxz

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/28/pers-f28.html

https://apnews.com/f8c382a5234bc12ec6d4f5430f8ec2e3

(I will keep doing this as long as I am able. If you want me to stop emailing these stories as they break, please let me know. Thank you.)

///loren

(For earlier posts go here.)